Setting the World on Fire at Siena Heights

“Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

Sister Peg Albert reiterated St. Catherine of Siena’s words at graduation this past spring to a record number of graduates. I have witnessed this statement to be true in so many of our alumni. Through events on campus and off campus, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and witness so many of our community of alumni setting “the world on fire.”

Kelly Burke ‘07 and I were students in Studio Angelico together. At the 2015 Alumni Art Exhibit during Homecoming, I got to witness the evolution of her work since graduation. She is on fire and living her dream! We keep up on Instagram, but to see a gallery of her work and get to congratulate her in person was special. Siena offers this continued community as Studio Angelico has made a tradition of hosting a reception Friday night at Homecoming week (mark your calendars for Oct. 13-15, 2017!).

As Senior Editor of The Wolverine Magazine, John Borton Covers All Things Michigan

If you are a serious fan of the University of Michigan athletics, you probably have heard of John Borton ’81.

As senior editor of The Wolverine Magazine, a multimedia publication that covers the University of Michigan athletic program, the Siena Heights graduate has had a front row seat reporting all things Michigan for the past 25 years. From the Bo Schembechler era of Wolverine football to the present-day College World Series appearance by the softball team, Borton has seen—and reported—on it all.

Anyone familiar with Michigan athletics knows some of their most well-known figures. Names like Schembechler, Tom Brady, Charles Woodson, Chris Webber, Michael Phelps and Jim Harbaugh are all people Borton has gotten to know professionally, some even personally. But he said some of his most memorable interviews are also from some lesser-known sources.

Zach Bailey Turns a College Internship into Disney Career

There’s internships, and then there’s internships.

Zach Bailey ’14 had the latter back in 2012, when he spent a semester as an intern in the Disney College Program. That experience—one that included working with such enter-
tainment icons as George Lucas and J.K. Rowling (yes, that George Lucas and J.K. Rowling)—has launched a “magical” Disney career for Bailey since graduating with a business degree from Siena Heights. He is currently a park operations guest service manager with Hollywood Studios.

Bailey said he’s always wanted to work for Disney, and when he came to Siena Heights, he began to explore internship possibilities.

“I literally had no idea how to start that journey,” he said. “It’s an empire, so how do you even start to work for those guys?”

He discovered the Disney College Program, but learned that Siena Heights was not part of the program. Regardless, he drove to a nearby university to see a presentation about the program, and worked for the next year to try to make that happen.

Enter Matt Ripper. SHU’s assistant professor of Business Management worked to rewrite the business program’s internship program to help make that internship possible for Bailey.